With successes like THE INVISIBLE MAN and the recent mini-series DUNE, the Sci-Fi Channel has proved it can offer original, quality programming. Unfortunately, their new series BLACK SCORPION does not fit that description.
The press kit says "BAYWATCH (x) BATMAN = BLACK SCORPION. It boasts a cast including former Miss Kansas Michelle Lintel and ten Playboy Playmates. Television isn't just a visual medium, however. It also requires at least a hint of a story. This is where BLACK SCORPION bites the dust, at least in the pilot episode anyway.
Michelle Lintel stars as Darcy Walker, a straight-laced cop by day and a sexy crime fighter (BLACK SCORPION) by night. Roger Corman is one of the executive producers of the series and that should tell you all you need to know about the script.
The best line in the pilot comes when BLACK SCORPION finds out that her genius mechanic can fix her supped up "Batmobile-like" car. She responds by saying, "I hope so, because my insurance does not cover super villains." Camp is all well and good, and I enjoy it, but if the episode I previewed is any indication, there is not enough of it to make the series worth watching more than once or twice.
The pilot episode gives little explanation to the back-story of how BLACK SCORPION became a super hero. It hinted that she is out to revenge the death of her father, a cop killed in the line of duty, but that is all. Nor does the script tell us where or how she got her money to develop her super hero gear, including a very advance supped-up car. In one scene a wall lifts up and out comes BLACK SCORPION into an ally in her car. It was straight out of THE GREEN HORNET, another campy super hero series that failed.
I am all for "camp" and can suspend disbelief for just about anything. However, the producers are obligated to give us, the viewers, something with which we can "hang out hat" on in order for us to suspend our disbelief. The pilot episode, ARMEND AND DANGEROUS, fails to do that.
